Finding Ideas and Writing Top-Notch Blogs for your Business

So your business has a shiny new website, with brilliant white pages as clean, crisp and pure as the driven snow. There is an ‘About Us’ page to be written and an ‘Our Team’ page to fill. So far so good, you think to yourself. Hey, running a business website isn’t rocket science after all!

But then you come upon the business blog and the terror takes hold. How are you going to fill it and what are you going to write about?

Why bother?

Blog writing isn’t always a simple task. In fact, it can be a bit of a pain from time to time. But as we indicated above, all business websites should include a blog.

The incredible cost-effectiveness of your own business blog effectively becomes the best and cheapest source of self-promotion. When written well, a blog’s content will demonstrate that your business understands the market and is up up-to-date on shifts and changes within the industry. A blog is a way to show visitors and potential clients your knowledge, and it’s your chance to mark your spot as an industry authority.

All these reasons and more are why you absolutely should bother to write a blog. You’d be a fool to go without.

Time to Decide: The why before the what

Creating and posting blog content to fill some threadbare pages on your site is a fine idea, but to really take your blog to the next level you need to be sure of why you’re posting on topic A as opposed to topic B.

What I’m getting at is that you should choose a topic that adds value to your business or potential clients. That’s what will keep ‘em coming back for more. What will your audience enjoy and why will it help them?

If you’re in the business of pet care, it’d be fairly pointless to write about the best ski resorts in the French Alps. These topics aren’t connected. That’s not what your client base wants to know about.

Sounds fairly obvious, but when businesses are struggling for ideas on what to write, many of them go off-piste. Pardon the pun.

So stick to your niche. A construction company should write tips on home DIY, reviews on new products in the industry, or perhaps the benefits of one of the services they offer. Whatever can relate back to your business will be helpful for those potential clients visiting your site. When they see you know your craft, the battle is half won.

What’s the big idea?

Use SEO for a different purpose

Once you’re sure of the direction your blog will take, the next step is finding ideas. If none immediately strike you, or you’ve written so many blogs that at this point your mind is simply an empty space of nothingness, you’ll need to look for help.

SEO word finding websites are ideal for idea generation. Free sites like Hypersuggest and Soovle will offer frequently searched for additions, alternatives, and variations on the themes of the word you type in.

So if you’re in pet care and type “cat food” into Soovle, among many of the words and phrases that the site will turn up are “worst cat food brands”, “cat food reviews”, and “dry cat food brands”.

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Seems like a lot of people want to know about the quality of the food they feed their cats, huh? So why not write a blog post about it? You’re in the business and you probably know brands to recommend. If not, there are many ways (hint: the internet) to find out.

Cat food is a parallel interest to your business and will be a topic that will catch the attention of any cat owner’s eye. Maybe this can start a series about the best foods all of the animals that you care for. It adds value and will draw readers and because it’s taken from an SEO word suggesting site, you’re likely to rank well with search engines without even trying! It’s the golden ticket!

Yes, RSS does still have a purpose

Really Simple Syndication has been around forever, or so it seems. An oldie but a goody, the RSS feed still comes in useful when properly set up.

Using feed readers like Feedly, or free alternative NewsBlur, allow you to link to websites that have a common interest to your business – perhaps an industry magazine or a competitor – and then push every publication made by said website to you, almost instantaneously, for your browsing leisure.

You can stay on top of the goings on in your specific industry without having to move a muscle.

RSS can be thought of a bit like Twitter, except for websites rather than social media. And less conversation. Speaking of which…

Keep listening to those tweets

No other social media platform allows you to keep up-to-date with breaking news or industry events as well as Twitter does.

Of course, you’re bound to have a business Twitter account already linked to your business website – if you haven’t already got an account then you really need to read this to find out why you should! - so you know Twitter operates.

The constant new content Twitter throws onto your screen will help blow away those idea cobwebs and aid your creative process. Just remember to give 2nomads a follow!

All’s well that ends well

With the downpour of ideas now certain to be replenishing your pool, all you have to do now is write. Or so you think.

Share, share, share! Promote each and every blog post through Facebook, Twitter and any other social media platform you have. What in the world is the point of taking the time to write, if no one will read? Enjoy the 13X increase in ROI that a blog brings and set your business on the steep climb to success!

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About Patrick Appleby

Patrick is a British journalist and content creator now based in Mexico City. When not searching for a scoop or trying to memorise Spanish verb conjugations, he enjoys cycling, reading, and wandering through the vast streets of the Distrito Federal.